Ok… Stephenson could think of all this advanced stuff - including a very similar precursor virtual reality world to Ready Player One’s OASIS - but can’t imagine something like the fax machine, email or drone delivery? Instead she just harpoons cars on the freeway with what I think is like a plunger on the end of cable.

Her name literally stands for Yours Truly.

Our other protagonist if a fifteen-year-old bike messenger (except she rides a skateboard) named Y.T. And they really take their half-hour-or-it’s-free guarantee super-seriously. After all, the aforementioned Hero Protagonist not only has a really dumb name, he’s both a really famous “hacker” and what amounts to a Domino’s Pizza delivery man. And I found my senses challenged by the world right out of the gate, as it kind of starts off on a cheesy note. But, anyway, Stephenson has built this whole world, which is certainly a feat, but if you’re not fond of the world he’s built, it’s a tough hang. Stephenson also puts the n-word in a few characters’ mouths, which felt a bit jarring here in 2019. And vaguely racist in its weird Asian obsession. I’m sure there is supposed to be some commentary about 1992 commercialism here, but it’s more annoyingly one-the-nose than it is enlightening. It’s a mash-up of neighborhoods and city-states that are no longer controlled by federal or local government, but by private companies, organizations and franchised retail chains. Trying to explain this world is next to impossible. In Snow Crash, we live in a year probably not so far into our current future where the world economy has collapsed and society has become a weird amalgam of, quite honestly, some dumb bullshit that I think the author thought would be clever, but is a world I have no interest in surveying. So there’s no having to assume future inventions, geo-politics or anything, really. I imagine this is why so many authors write kind of post-apocalyptic type narratives where society is basically frozen at a certain year and then reverts back to its native form. Because, as it turns out, speculative fiction doesn’t age well. Especially ones that you’re reading twenty-seven years after they were written. Sci-fi and/or cyberpunk-ish novels are a funny proposition. Unfortunately I knew it from page 50, but stubbornly slogged through the next 430 pages anyway. This might be all you need to know about this book to just stop reading and chalk it up as garbage. And, yes, Snow Crash’s protagonist in indeed named Hero Protagonist. If only I could remember exactly who they were, because I have a good mind to hunt them down and eviscerate them with one of those katanas that our main character, Hero Protagonist, employs throughout this 1992 sci-fi novel. I know this because one or two of them recommended it to me. I know there are some people out there who like this book.

Snow crash graphic novel